Sterna dougallii
Order Charadriiformes
Family Laridae
Subfamily Sterninae
Adult in summer.— Top of head black; wings and back pale pearl-gray; tail white, the outer feathers much longer than the wings; under parts apparently white (really tinged with rose-pink); bill black, tinged at base with reddish,
Adult in autumn.— Similar, but forehead and forward portion of crown white, streaked with blackish.
Immature.— Similar to fall adult.
The Roseate Tern is a rare summer resident of the coast of southern New England and New York. On the island of Muskeget, between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, there is a large colony of Roseate Terns; a smaller colony is established on Penikese, and a few other colonies are found along Long Island Sound.
Its times of arrival and departure and its habits are similar to those of the Common Tern, but an adult may easily be distinguished, when seen at close range, by the bill, which is chiefly black, in strong contrast to the pure white under parts, and by the very long and pure white outer tail-feathers. Its cry, too, differs from that of the commoner tern, resembling the syllable cack; this it utters on the breeding-ground as it flies at an intruder, its bill pointing straight at his face, threatening till the last moment to strike him. The young bird cannot be distinguished in life from the young Common Tern; care must be taken, too, not to take a young Common Tern, which has a dark bill, for a Roseate Tern. A combination of a black bill with an entirely black crown and long white tail-feathers makes identification certain.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)